RAD met with Michael Allen and Andrew Gray, of The Wolfgang Press, during their "Funky Little Demons" tour.

RAD
I read
a bio that 4AD gave us about "Funky Little Demons," so I probably won't
ask as much about that. You look like you want to say something, Michael.

Michael
I was
wondering what the bio was; sometimes they're a bit obscure, by the biographers
we've had. But I think that one was fairly understandable.

RAD
It seemed
like they had several quotes from you about how, on "FLD" you're doing
something new and old at the same time, technically; going back to your
roots. Remember saying that?

Michael
Oh, right.
I remember, yeah. Certainly. We've been mixing it, which we have been,
for a while, really, just messing the state-of-the-art technology with
stuff like guitars, and keyboards and sort of going back to, as Andrew
puts it, "organic" sort of sounds, more natural feel, you know, as opposed
to like on "Queer," it was a little bit more electronic, and this is more
natural sounding, softer in some ways.

RAD
I have
a friend who is convinced that Andrew is the one that on "Queer" is saying,
"In Venezuela they have lots of cocaine," like in the song "Louis XIV."
I guess there's a picture of you on front of the CD, all hunched over --
(laughter)

Andrew
Uh, it
was a friend of ours, Gary, from Renegade Soundwave. It's his little bit
there.

Michael
(musing)
Tuna... Canned foods... I mean, does fruit come into it at all?

RAD
Oh, yeah,
anything that can come in a can.

Michael
Well,
custard and oranges, then.

RAD
That
comes mixed together in a can?

Michael
No, it
doesn't, but I mix it.

RAD
So, how
many times have you toured in the U.S. now?

Michael
(to Andrew)
What would you say this is, the fourth time?

Andrew
Fourth
time for us.

RAD
Did you
tour here first with maybe your second album? Third?

Andrew
It was...
I think "Birdwood Cage" was the first time we came over. Cause that
was when we was being distributed by Rough Trade. And then we came over
with "Queer," didn't we? But didn't we come over between then?

Michael
We did,
we did... No, Nick Cave
was "Birdwood Cage" and, um, the one before that must have been "Standing
Up Straight."

Andrew
I'm not
sure; I'm a bit confused about that one. But this is definitely the fourth
time.

RAD
Do you
still play some of your older tracks? Or do you steer away from that?

Andrew
The oldest
track that we do, I think, is "Kansas," probably, isn't it?

Michael
Yeah,
Kansas.

RAD
A friend
of mine told me to beg you guys to do "Cut the Tree."

Andrew
We were
thinking about doing it.

Michael
We were.
We wanted to do that.

Andrew
But it's
cause we've got like a whole live band now, it takes time to get the tracks
and convert them, because there used to be a DAT -- just a DAT with bass
and drums, and a few other things. It was just the three of us, but that's
all changed now. We're trying to do it mostly live.

RAD
Why the
change? Just to do something different?

Andrew
Uh, yeah,
actually, and on the Nick Cave tour, I think, seeing...

Michael
We realize...

Andrew
Yeah,
seeing his group and the way they interacted, and just having a live drummer
and stuff, we just said, yeah, I think this is the thing to do next. So,
it does, it works a lot better, just having the physical... seeing, like,
real drums.

Michael
People
seeing, you know, people playing the instruments; it has been so much nicer
than having things on tape. And it's very restrictive having things on
tape.

RAD
In the
bio, it also talked about how the thing that changed your career around
was that De La Soul album.

Michael
Yeah,
exactly. It was something that certainly affected me. It's not the music,
it wasn't the music, although, as I've always said, I think it's an amazing
album. It was just how they went about making the album. I like the way
they seemed to approach the making of it. It just seemed like, real free
and easy, and sort of like, they've just got their friends in, and just,
almost like it just happened. You know, there wasn't any effort. And everybody's
just enjoying themselves -- they could have been at home having a party
-- it seemed like that, you know, that kind of an album. That's what I
really liked about it.

RAD
What
do you find yourself listening to nowadays? Or do you listen to much?

Michael
I really
don't listen to much, I must say. I know Andrew probably does. But I --
the only thing recently that I've listened to is Portishead,
Massive Attack,
and, uh... not really a great deal.

Andrew
Luna.
I liked the "Bewitched" album. I've heard a couple of new tracks they've
been doing, some covers, "Bonnie and Clyde," which is Serge Gainsbourg.
It's really good. They're really good.

RAD
How do
you get ideas for what you want to do musically? Do you have any technique?

Andrew
Not really,
not any technique of any type, I mean it's...

RAD
Do you
separate, do you get together on the songs?

Andrew
Well,
sometimes we do, yeah. Sometimes we do it individually.

Michael
Yeah,
this last album was a breakaway from how we've done it in the past. We've
always, in the past, sat around together and, you know, just made some
noise, made something out of that noise, structured it together. Um, but
with this one, we did sort of like work separately.

Andrew
About
half and half for this album.

RAD
Do you
have a preference as to how to work?

Andrew
Not really.

Michael
Whichever
way, whichever mode sort of gets it going, you know, whichever way helps
it along; it doesn't matter. As long as, you know, everyone's in agreement
with what is going on. And obviously that has to be the case, that the
other people are happy, I guess, with what you come up with.

RAD
When
you were saying how, about the way that De La Soul worked on that album
and made it more of a fun kind of thing, what was it like when you were
making your earlier albums?

Michael
It was
like, on the first few albums, I think -- certainly "Burden of Mules" --
although it doesn't sound it, I mean, I really enjoyed it -- making the
album -- because it was sort of just experimenting and messing around in
the studio, subjects which interest you. Or which make sense to you; or
you're comfortable writing about some things. Our themes will always,
I think, be what they are. An opinion, really, that may surprise you. Or
maybe from a different perspective, where you get to where you get different
ideas about certain things.

RAD
It seems
like you have a lot of lyrics about morality, or sin, or.. I don't know,
maybe I'm just thinking of certain songs.

Michael
Yeah,
I mean, it's all in there. It's about life and how you're coping with it,
and you want to sort of like be... uh, doing the right thing. It's about
trying to do what you're doing and remain true and honest, with yourself
and other people. It's what we're doing.

Andrew
The music,
it's... We're using different technology each time and working with a different
producer, and that helps, as well, so it changes all the time. That's how
we like it, really, and we don't like to stick to, or try to stick to,
one form or another, so we change it.

RAD
I don't
think the fans would like you to do that, either.

Andrew
No, no.
It's just a natural thing to do, to me, to change each time.

Michael
Yeah.

RAD
There
are some people who say, Yeah, well I just like the old Wolfgang Press;
they're too mainstream now, or...

Andrew
Well,
that's it, I mean, if you do change, then you've got to acceptthat.

Michael
Yeah,
well, you're always gonna run into people who are always gonna say, Well,
they were much better then, you know... You're gonna lose, and you're gonna
win in other areas. What's important is that we feel that we're doing something
worthwhile and fresh, for us. It doesn't matter to me whether it's mainstream
or not. I don't care if we make a pop record; it's whether it's a good
pop record. That's what's important, that it's good -- from where I stand.
I don't care what kind of music, you know, I listen to or make.

RAD
You don't
care what kind you listen to or make? As long as you enjoy doing it?

Michael
Well,
no, as long as it's good, and it all sort of makes sense to me. I mean,
if there's a song which someone considers to be a pop song, and they don't
like it because it's a pop song, I find that INCREDIBLY snotty. I mean,
there's good pop songs out there. Just because it's been number ten in
the charts, you can't like it... Isn't that a ridiculous of an attitude?

RAD
How was
it working with Tom Jones when he did your song ("A Girl Like You")? Did
you have fun? Did you like the guy?

Andrew
Yeah,
I liked him a lot, actually.

Michael
Yes --

RAD
Do you
think he's a good dresser?

Michael &
Andrew
(laughter)

Andrew
I actually
like when he's dressed more casual, like when he came to the studio.

Michael
No, I liked him when he had his suits, sort of like this Italiano, or something...
Mafioso. He's got this like big black tie and black shirt. He looked good,
I thought. He's a good man, he's a good man, you know. He knows what he
is, and he's comfortable... No ego, that I could detect.

RAD
Did you
expect him to have an ego?

Michael
I expected
him to be... something, or, you know, sort of...

RAD
A star?

Michael
He's
a star, there's no question about it. But he was just really sort of cool,
you know.

Andrew
Very
relaxed. But, um, we were quiet once we were working on the track, you
know, it's the first time we actually wrote for someone else. Especially
the one that we actually wrote for him to do. It was actually a good experience.
Cause we weren't thinking about us, the group, writing a bit of music for
us, but for this person. We hadn't actually met at this time; we were just
demo-ing. But we'd all sort of seen him on TV and stuff like that.

RAD
And then,
did you all play the instrumentation on it?

Andrew
Oh, yeah,
yeah. Well, most of the original instrumentation, like the guitars and
stuff, were actually the ones we used in the demo and such, but we used
a lot of the originals and stuff on it. It's got a lot of real brass, and
it's just all sequence and stuff. But a lot of live brass.

RAD
So what
other artists or musicians would you like to do songs with, or work with?

Andrew
I'd actually
like to work with Flood again. We worked with him on "Birdwood Cage," but
I think he's had a lot more experience than when he worked on that. And
I'd actually like to sort of work with him again, cause I think he's made
-- the last couple of albums he's made -- are really interesting.

Michael
You know,
he did the P.J. Harvey.

Andrew
Yeah.

Michael
Don't
you think there's sort of similarities with some of ours, like "Birdwood
Cage?"

Andrew
I've
only heard the single, you see.

Michael
I really
think there's some similarities.

Andrew
And he
has a certain sound to what he makes. But, yeah, I'd like to work with
him again.

Michael
(to Andrew)
We're talking about Barry Adamson, aren't we?

Andrew
Yeah,
Barry Adamson. I actually like, and I keep coming back to it, but the guy
who produces Luna, I think, Dutch or something.

Michael
(to RAD)
You mean producers, or just in general?

RAD
Generally.
What if Michael Jackson called you up and said, I wanna do a remake of
one of your songs ?

Michael
Fuck
him. Go to... (laughter from all) ... Kansas! (more laughter)... No, um,
I don't know... It wouldn't matter. It wouldn't mean too much to me, to
be perfectly honest. If it was someone like Bob Dylan, maybe; well, no,
no -- Lou Reed. That'd be a bit better; that would mean a lot to me. There
are quite a few people -- I can't think of them all, actually.

Andrew
It doesn't
have to be just musicians. I like people who are creative, really.

RAD
So who
are some of your favorite creative people?

Andrew
Cindy
Sherman, I like her -- a photographer. She seems really interesting. I
like David Byrne, I'd like to work with him. I don't know on what, but
just, you know, just his whole attitude, his approach to music, and his
visions and stuff like that. He would be good to work with.